Penholder



(No Model.)

W. W. COLE.

E D L 0 H N E P No. 555,676. Patented Mar. 3,1896.

. WITNESSES:

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

IVARREN IV. COLE, OF PORTLAND, MAINE.

PENHOL'DER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 555,676, dated March 3, 1896.

Application filed November 30,1895. Serial No, 570,680. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

- Be it known that I, WARREN W. COLE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Portland, in the county of Cumberland and State of Maine, have invented certain new and usef ul Improvements in Penholders, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

My invention relates to penholders and has for its object to provide for use a holder adapted to securely or properly confine pens of many difierent sizes and shapes.

As is well known, a penholder of any one of the usual constructions will properly hold onlya pen of a given size and shape, and the steel pens of that type designed to be slipped into a holder vary considerably in the size and the curvature (in cross-section) of their body portions, so that different holders have to be used for different pens.

I propose to provide for use a single holder formed or provided with a series of holder devices, or binder devices, arranged within the usual barrel or tubular portion of the penholder, and adapted to seat and firmly hold in place many different sizes of pens on the several binder devices and at different localities (circumferentially) within the barrel; and to this main end and object my invention may be said to consist, essentially, in a holder having a single barrel-like or tubular device, into one end of which is inserted one end of the pen-handle, about as usual, and within the other end portion of which is a series of binder devices, each having a seating or bearing surface for a pen of a different size and shape from the configuration (in cross-section) of the other binder devices, whereby pens of different shapes and sizes can be applied to and will be securely held in place by the several binder devices within the same barrel, all as will be hereinafter more fully explained and as will be most particularly pointed out in the claim of this specification.

To enable those skilled in the art to which my invention relates to make and use penholders embodying the same, I will now proceed to more fully describe my improvement, referring by letters and figures to the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification, and in which I have shown my invention carried out in that form in which I have so far practiced it.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a penholder made according to my invention and having a pen fitted to it for use therein. Fig. 2 is an end view of the same, but with the pen removed. Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing a modification of my invention. Fig. 4 is an end view of the form of holder seen in perspective at Fig. 3.

In the several figures the same part will be found always designated by the same letter or figure of reference.

A is the barrel or metallic tubular part of the penholder, within one portion of which is fitted, in about the usual manner, one end of a wooden or other handle B, as shown. \Vithin that portion of the barrel A.which is not occupied by the end of the handle B is securely fitted a binder device which comprises (in the case shown) three separate pen seating and holding prongs or arms 1 2 3, the outer or peripheral surface of each of which is, it will be seen, of a different form or of a different degree of curvature (in cross-section) from that of each of the others. In the form of holder shown at Figs. 1 and 2 each of these arms 1 2 3 is capable of yielding slightly toward and from the axial line of the holder, and at the middle of the latter and intermediately of the three arms is located a corepiece 6 of rubber, which acts expansively to force and-hold each of the said arms outwardly against the inner surface or wall of the barrel A. As, however, the curved peripheral penseating surface of each arm 1 2 3 is formed in the arc of a circle smaller than that of the core of the barrel A it follows, of course, that each of these arms will contact with or approximately touch the inner surface of the barrel A at a mere line theoretically, and preferably each of said arms projects beyond or protrudes slightly at the end of the barrel A, all as clearly shown.

Vith the parts formed and combined as so far described a pen such as seen at f, Fig. 1, may be easily inserted by placing its body portion on the seating-arm or hinder device 3, then slightly pressing 011 the pen in the direction indicated by the arrow at Fig. 2, and at the same time sliding the pen backward and within the barrel A. The arm 3 then by its own resiliency, aided by the rubber springcore e, will press outwardly hard against the pen-body and thus the pen will be gripped and held firmly between the outer surface of the arm 3, on which it is seated, and the contactin g inner surface or wall of the barrel A.

It will be understood that the rubber or other spring at 6 may be dispensed with by making the arms 1 2 3 to act automatically with an outward spring force toward the surrounding inner surface of the barrel A.

In the modification shown at Figs. 3 and 4c the binder device is shown as made solid or unyielding, and the barrel A is slitted from its lower end upward to a sufficient distance to render the thus longit-udinally-severed portions capable of acting as three separate spring presser devices, each operating to grip and confine securely between its inner concave surface and the outer convex surface of one of the arms 1 2 3 the body portion of a pen inserted between the opposing surface of the said parts of the penholder, and it'will be understood that under this modified form of the device when inserting the pen the buttend of the latter is entered a little sidewise, thus springing outwardly the end of that one of the three parts 4 5 (i of the slitted barrel A beneath which the pen-body is being inserted, and that when forced inwardly of the holder to the proper extent the pen will be securely gripped and held between said spring-like portion of the barrel and the fixed convex surface of that one of the seating portions 1 2 3 (see Figs. 3 and 4) of the solid binder device on which the concave surface of the pen shall have been placed.

Of course a slight discrepancy between the concave surface of the pen f and the convex surface of the arm 3 on which it may be seated will not prevent a satisfactory operation of the coacting parts of the pen'holding device, and hence with each one of the three different seating-arms 1 2 3 several different-sized pens, the curvature of which also may slightly vary,can be perfectly held by the holder shown; and from this it follows that with the three arms shown, of varying degrees of curvature, nearly or quite all the sizes of steel pens in the market can be used with perfect success in my improved penholder. The latter may, however, be made with more than three of the binder-arn1s 1 2 3, especially if it be found desirable or expedient to enlarge the size, circumferentially, of the barrel A, which I have shown in the drawings as of about full size.

I have contemplated carrying out the novel principle of my invention in a holder having the series of barrel binder devices 4 5 6 made of different shapes (in cross-section) to con.- form to the convex surfaces of pens of different sizes, and having fixed seating or opposing devices adapted to contact only with the central portions of the concave sides of the pens used; but I have so far found the forms I have shown to be the more practical and desirable ones. I however wish it to be understood that any more change in form or any mere transposition of the coacting rigid and yielding parts not acting to change the novel principle of construction and mode of operation peculiar to my improved penholder will be within the scope of my invention, and therefore,

Having now so fully described my inventionv that those skilled in the art can understand and practice it, either in one of the forms I have shown or under some other modification, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A penholder, having a series of binding, or holder, devices, respectively located at different points, circumferential] y; and having open spaces between them, for the accommodation of the projecting sides, or edges, of different-size pens; each of said holder devices having a different degree of curvature, or a different configuration in cross-section; and each adapted to securely hold in place, pens of different sizes, and diiferent shapes, in cross-section; all in substantially the manner hereinbefore set forth.

I11 witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 12th day of November, 1895.

IVARREN \V. COLE.

In presence of- IIELo II. KING, E. A. STERLING. 

